Chapter 54: Preparation (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 54: Preparation (1)
In a corner of my dorm room, I opened my eyes, pulled on my clothes, and headed outside for my morning workout.
The once-chilly air had softened. A faint warmth now permeated the cool breeze.
It was truly spring.
I slowly stretched as I made my way to the walking path. In the distance, Yu Hana was jogging toward me.
Good thing I’d decided to walk and stretch first. Just as she was about to reach me, I started to run.
A few minutes later.
“Hah…”
We stopped, gasping for breath.
“A new record, isn’t it?”
Yu Hana came right up to me, holding out her watch.
A soft, sweat-dampened scent wafted from her. It was a rich, strangely captivating fragrance rising from her heated skin.
Instinctively, my breath caught. My gaze, fixed on the watch, naturally wavered.
Yu Hana, seemingly oblivious, pointed at the screen with a bright expression.
“Look, we’re definitely faster, right?”
I let out a short breath and looked away.
“Looks like it.”
This was one of the reasons I liked morning workouts. If you stuck with it, you were guaranteed to improve.
We caught our breath for a moment, then began to walk slowly.
When we reached the fork in the path, we naturally came to a stop.
“See you later.”
“Yeah.”
Yu Hana gave a small wave and headed in the opposite direction.
I watched her back for a moment before turning toward the dormitory.
Back in my room, I took a shower. The hot water streaming down my skin seemed to empty my mind, if only for a moment.
Stepping out of the bathroom, I roughly dried my hair with a towel and got dressed.
Out of habit, I checked myself in the mirror, adjusting my clothes before looking at my watch.
A familiar routine. A familiar morning.
It was the start of a perfectly ordinary day. So ordinary, it was hard to believe what had happened only yesterday.
But the reflection in the mirror showed that the tips of my fingers were trembling slightly.
I clenched my fist unconsciously, then opened it again.
Confirming the distinct sensation in my fingertips, I let out a small breath.
“Huu…”
Only then did the trembling stop.
As if nothing was wrong, I opened the door and left the dormitory.
On the way to the lecture hall.
I had missed the last few days of class, but all for legitimate reasons. I wouldn't be marked absent.
I opened the back door of the classroom and carefully made my way to a seat in the corner.
My designated spot.
As I sat waiting for class to begin, the front door opened and someone walked in. It was Yohan.
I hadn’t seen him since I’d thrashed him in our last duel. It had been a while.
He looks fine.
On the outside, at least.
I still didn’t know what came over me back then. I just saw red all of a sudden…
His eyes lingered on me for a moment.
Then he quickly turned and headed toward his own group of friends.
I tore my gaze away as well, staring up at the ceiling as I lost myself in thought.
Three weeks until the Mine attack.
A little over a month until the Exchange Match. In the end, I had to prepare for both events simultaneously.
Of course, in terms of importance, the former was far more critical.
Inside the academy, I would prepare for Yoon Chae-ha’s growth and the Exchange Match. Outside, I would prepare for the Mine assault.
If I did my best on both fronts, I felt I could manage it all.
Just as my thoughts concluded, Instructor Do Han-seong entered through the front door.
“Ah…”
The moment he walked in, a collective groan rippled through the students.
What’s with them?
Did he assign homework last class? Puzzled, I looked to the front.
Do Han-seong stood there, a sly grin on his face as he glanced at the digital clock on the left wall of the lecture hall.
The clock read exactly 9:00 AM.
After checking the time, he opened his mouth, his expression relaxed.
“Everyone, please check the Gaon database.”
At that, the students’ groans grew deeper.
“As announced last class, today is the day your midterm written exam scores are released.”
Ah, so that’s what it was.
The practical exam scores would be combined with the finals for a total evaluation, but the written exam scores were separate.
I turned on my watch to check my grade.
Gaon had a cruel habit of laying out the rankings for all to see.
And everyone could view them.
I didn’t even need to scroll down.
My name was easy to find near the top.
[1st] Kang A-rin
[2nd] Jung Hae-in
…
[6th] Yohan
…
[10th] Ha Sion
…
[18th] Yu Hana
…
[27th] Cheon Yeo-wool
As the students frantically turned on their watches, the instructor spoke leisurely.
“It seems the students I’m in charge of are quite good at their studies. Three of you are in the top ten.”
The students’ gazes all turned toward the three of us.
But my attention was elsewhere.
“What?”
It wasn’t my own rank that surprised me.
Kang A-rin, me, Ha Sion, Yu Hana—we were all in our expected positions.
But Cheon Yeo-wool.
27th place?
For her to rank that high… honestly, it was hard to believe.
I instinctively turned my head, searching for her.
Cheon Yeo-wool, sitting far across the room, caught my eye and flashed a V-sign.
She wiggled her fingers, her expression seeming to ask, Did I do well?
I let out a small laugh and gave a slight nod.
I had tutored her personally, but I’d thought it would be difficult for her to get a good grade.
If it were that easy, she wouldn’t have been struggling in the first place.
I opened the detailed score sheet. Her scores were higher than I’d expected overall, but not quite befitting a top-tier student.
Cheon Yeo-wool had scored exceptionally high in spell formulas—specifically, the subject dealing with Holy Methods.
That one score was high enough to cover for all her other marks.
And that was the subject I had personally taught her.
I’m proud of her.
I looked at Cheon Yeo-wool again. Noticing my gaze from afar, she smiled with her eyes.
It seemed like she was only doing praiseworthy things lately.
Like readily accepting the request regarding the Paladin. And after a bit of tutoring, it looked like she’d studied incredibly hard on her own.
A rank like 27th wasn’t something you could get without studying. I could see the traces of her effort.
The classroom was filled with the wails of students who had checked their ranks.
“Everyone, you don’t need to be so disheartened.”
Instructor Do Han-seong continued nonchalantly.
His expression was characteristically dry.
“You’ll have to go through this at least ten more times, after all. You can make up for it next time.”
“……”
He may have meant it as a word of comfort, but telling the students they had to endure this ten more times was definitely not good news.
I glanced at my watch.
9:05 AM.
Now that the score announcement was over, it was time to get to the main lesson.
– Tap.
The instructor tapped his desk.
“Well then, let’s begin class.”
The students’ groans showed no sign of stopping.
*
Lunch was over. It had been an uncharacteristically peaceful day.
Though a war was raging in my head.
I stood in the hallway, looking at the club recruitment posters on the wall.
This was probably the final week for recruitment. The deadline had actually passed, but it had been extended for the Carlos students who had come over for the Place of Exchange.
I kept telling myself I had to join one, but I’d put it off until now.
Where should I go…
The posters were crammed with various clubs.
I saw some familiar names.
Frontier.
I’d already turned them down once. Not this one. Yohan was probably a member.
This time, I needed a club I could join with Yoon Chae-ha.
I thought for a moment, running through the candidates.
First, the Magic Research Society.
“That’s a bit…”
It takes two to tango. It’s not that I disliked magic.
If anything, I was fond of it, but if you asked me if I wanted to ‘research’ it… absolutely not.
Yoon Chae-ha would likely feel the same. She was the type to enjoy straightforward fun rather than research.
This was a place neither of us would last long in.
Rejected.
Second, the Archery Club.
Not bad.
It would certainly help develop a mage’s foundational skill: concentration.
I knew how to use a bow, so it was a decent option, but…
Sion would probably give me an earful.
If you were going to join the archery club, shouldn’t you have taken me with you? Why did you go alone? I could already hear his nagging, from start to finish.
And Yoon Chae-ha probably wouldn’t be too interested either.
I’ll put this one on hold.
Last, the third option.
The Board Game Club.
[Lexium]
Board games in this world were different from the ones we knew. There were basic ones like chess and Monopoly, of course.
But there were also games where you unfolded a gadget and a dungeon popped out for you to clear. A kind of ‘Instant Dungeon.’
They were expensive and not something you could easily experience, but this was Gaon. The school’s club funding would be more than enough to cover it.
Yoon Chae-ha would be interested. Plus, games like field chess and Instant Dungeons could help awaken a mage’s fundamental spatial awareness.
If I could use this to stimulate her competitive spirit… it could be a great growth experience for her.
“This is it.”
I found the recruitment manager’s contact info on the poster and sent a message.
[Jung Hae-in]: Hello, this is Jung Hae-in from the first year. I’m messaging about joining the club. Would you happen to have two spots available?
One spot for me, the second for Yoon Chae-ha.
The possibility of Yoon Chae-ha not following me didn’t even exist.
She was the girl who had crossed over to another academy out of pure curiosity. She would absolutely follow me to a club.
She did in the original story, too.
I turned off my watch’s screen.
With that, a long-overdue task was finally finished.
I was exhausted in many ways, with so many upcoming events. Still, if I could just get over this hump, things would be peaceful until the final exams. At least, on the surface.
That’s why getting over this hump was the most important thing.
I looked up at the ceiling and let out a short breath.
I can get through this, right?
No matter how I tried to forget, the scenes from the trial remained deep within my mind, tormenting me like a brand.
Aldebaran’s trial was over, but I was still undergoing my own.
Just then.
[『Mirror-Still Water』 awakens your mind!]
The ripples in my mind subsided.
My blurred vision sharpened.
I took a long breath in and steeled my heart once more.
“Huu…”
I could definitely get through this.
No, I had to.